Being With You
by life-coveter
Summary: Cath and Levi are inseparable. Or are they? - a one-shot post-canon that has a spoonful of fluff and a pinch of sadness.


Hi all, this is a one-shot I wrote today, inspired by the two most beautifully written characters of our day. It's post-canon with just a spoon of fluff and a pinch of sadness. Rated M for language - 95% Reagan.

**_Disclaimer:_** Levi and Cath have Emergency Kanye Dance Parties in my head a lot but they go home to Rainbow Rowell everytime. Fangirl does not belong to me.

**Being With You**

"Hey. Wake up."

For a minute, Cath thought it was the familiar voice that was trying to wake her up. Well it _was _a familiar voice but it just was not _the_ familiar voice.

She peaked at who it was and groaned, "Go away."

"God, you're a mess," Wren threw a pillow at her and that made Cath groan again, mumbling a curse because even that pillow smelled like _him_. "You need to stop moping or I will call Reagan to kick your ass out of bed."

That's when everything came rushing back in Cath's mind. Her argument with Levi. The crying. Wren dragging her out of the house to "drink". Actual drinking. Reagan was there. _God_, Reagan was there. The vomiting. The Karaoke. _Oh God, really_, the Karaoke. More vomiting. More crying. And now she knew more crying was about to ensue. She rolled to face the wall, blocking any sight of Wren. "Go away. _Please._"

She heard Wren sigh, "Once I walk out of this room, you should know that Dad will come up here and have a talk with you. Or Reagan. Picture for yourself which would be worse of the two."

There was a pinch of amusement in Wren's voice and Cath groaned for what seemed like the millionth time since she was woken up. She pressed her palms to her eyes and shook her head, "Just don't talk so loud, okay?"

Cath slowly kicked the blanket off of her and started rolling around, still putting off getting up and facing reality.

"Fine, _Hungover_ Cath." Wren laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Is she up?"

_Shit_. Reagan.

"Cath."

"Reagan, don't."

Cath was still struggling to open both her eyes without constantly squinting them shut. Her head throbbed and she was _so_ thirsty.

"If this happened to you under normal circumstances, Cath, I would be laughing at you right now. Really hard. Non-stop…"

She knew she must have been a sight for sore eyes. Drunk Cath last night. Hungover Cath today. Hilarious.

She made an attempt at getting her feet to floor but it felt really far away and her legs felt weak.

"So… Levi…"

Cath winced. _Levi_.

"Doesn't matter," she breathed. Because it doesn't matter now.

"We still think that you two should talk again. Calmly this time… we hope…"

Cath glanced at Reagan who had her hands on her hips, pointedly staring at her. She sighed, "Doesn't matter."

Reagan narrowed her eyes and sat down on her bed, "Did you guys actually break up?"

"I dunno. Maybe. No…"

At this point, Cath thought they might as well have broken up yesterday. It's over. It'll _be_ over. So why does it matter?

"That's a no. And that will always be a no," said Raegan decisively.

Cath did not say another word and went straight for the bathroom, clutching at her stomach, tears spilling out. Because it hurt so much. Because everything Levi that happened in her stomach hurt so much.

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She held her hand out before her dad could even say one word.

"It's stupid. I won't do it again. I'm not like Wren, don't worry," she promised, a little defensively.

"Okay," her Dad replied, holding his hands up in defeat.

She sat on the kitchen table, her Dad handing her a blueberry bagel. _Blueberry. Blueberry Bliss. Levi._ She caught a glimpse of her Dad and realised he was also looking at her. Before things got more awkward, she mumbled a "thanks" to him.

There fell deafening silence between them. Her Dad just stared at her while she picked at what she knew was her hungover-cure bagel. This silence made her brain explode with all things Levi. Her stomach hurt again. And she continued to eat her bagel with her head down in awful teary silence.

"Cath, is it over?"

She finally looked up, all tears and snot, and cried, "I sincerely hope not, Daddy."

Her Dad hugged her then, rocking her back and forth, whispering, "it's going to be okay" in her ear over and over again.

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She glanced at her phone for the _n_th time, waiting for that reply to come through.

She was sitting on the living room couch with Wren, flicking through Home magazines. She didn't understand why they had so many Home magazines. She stared emptily at a newly renovated patio when her phone finally beeped.

"Thank goodness," she whispered.

_How is she?_

Her fingers flew through the screen of her phone and hit send.

_DUDE, WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING, YOU BETTER DROP IT AND GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE NOW AND SORT THIS SHIT OUT. SHE IS A FUCKING MESS._

She tapped on her phone, hoping that the mighty capital letters implies the urgency in her plea.

There was no reply from him after five minutes.

_PLEASE._

She pressed _send_ and squeezed her eyes shut. She exhaled, turning to Wren, "You know, this is not how I imagined my two weeks of summer vacation here with you guys would be, right?"

"Tell Levi that," replied Wren.

"It takes two to tango, dear," Reagan rolled her eyes.

"Reagan," said Wren slowly. "Do you think if he goes ahead with it, do you think… she'll be alright? Do you think he will be alright? Do you think he'll…"

And Wren trailed off. However, Reagan knew what she was getting at and she did not like the thoughts brewing in her mind.

"Poke around it, why don't you?" Reagan scoffed. "No, I know Levi. He'll never cheat on Cath. _Ever_. Apart from that thing before with that chick at that party."

"I just… it really isn't _that_," Wren pointed out, even though they both knew it kind of is about _that_. "It's more the fact that I know Cath won't be able to handle the distance."

"Not to mention the length of time," Reagan added. And they both sighed because the two of them knew that Cath will not be alright. Nothing will be alright.

_I'll be driving now. Will be there in a few. And stop sending me mesages in capslock. It hurts my eyes. I GET IT._

Well, thank the fuck.

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"No drinking," their Dad yelled after Reagan and Wren before shutting the door. "And come home by midnight!"

She could hear his footsteps ascending through the stairs as she absent-mindedly brushed her keyboard with fingers too lame to type anything.

"Cath…" he knocked, sliding his head in their room to locate her.

"Yeah, Dad."

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me to Grandma's for the week?"

"I'm sure, Dad. Thanks," she smiled softly at her laptop even if she knew her Dad couldn't see that.

"Okay, just…"

"I know."

"Okay. Well, will you at least send me off?"

She sighed. This house must have broken the record for the number of sighs in one day by a million.

"Sure."

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"Are you sure you have everything?"

He nodded. "I'll see you in a week," he said, giving her the most awkward fatherly hug possible. He pat her head and closed the door.

She was acutely aware of how tightly she was still gripping the doorknob.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

She started lightly hitting her forehead against the hard wood.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

Cath continued this mantra until a knock on the door made her jump away from the door.

She swung the door widely; her voice still rasped from all the crying as she attempted to triumphantly declare, "I knew you forgot some-"

"Cather."

_Oh_.

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"Look at me, please," Levi begged, shifting in her bed to face her. His hand rose, trembling a little, brushing his thumb over her cheeks.

She fought back a sob and shook her head. She's a coward. She can't even look at him and that's why she's sitting with arms wrapped around her folded knees.

"Cather, please…"

Levi did not tire in keeping his thumb on her face and Cath so wanted to lean in and just…

"I'm sorry."

It was so faint that Levi had to blink to register what she said. She looked up at him. She has never seen Levi this sad.

So she cleared her throat and repeated herself, "I'm sorry."

"C'mere, sweetheart."

He leaned forward and trapped her in his arms and she finally let go of her knees and hugged him back, her cheek pressed against his chest.

"If I knew you were going to take this so hard, I would have never considered it."

She nodded because she knew he was right. He was always right, her Levi. _My Levi_, she thought.

"I thought you would have seen this as an opportunity, a good one, for me…"

"I did. I do," she blurted out, now openly wailing on his chest.

He hushed her, smoothing her hair with his big hands. "So… I'm sorry, too, Cather. For not asking you first."

She hugged him tighter, afraid of letting him go. "I love you," she whispered.

He pulled away to see her face. He tilted her chin and searched for her. _Look at me, _he pleaded. "I love you, too, Cath. I love you more than anything in this world. Do you understand that?"

And she nodded, placing her lips against his. Lips always so soft and pink and lips Cath was sure she never wanted to part with.

They sat on her bed gazing at each other for a long moment when Cath broke the silence.

"So are you going to go ahead with the Student Exchange Program then?"

"How can I?" he asked back, smiling gently at her. "Even when I was filling in the application forms, I was already struggling so hard to fight the tears. God, _Australia_. I mean, it's one thing to go to Texas for a couple of weeks. But Australia is on the other side of the world. And now that I know you don't want me to go, I don't think I can ever board that plane. I can't be away from you for such a long time, Cath."

"But," Cath started. "I know this will help a lot with your range management and what you're actually going to do in the future."

He exhaled, "Oh, undeniably so."

"So?"

"I'm not going," he grinned.

"Why not?" She almost wanted to chuckle at that. Urgh, _chuckle_.

"Because…"

They both already knew the reason. The reasons. The unspoken reasons why Levi would never go.

She hugged him tighter because she loved him so much. And he loved her so bleeding much that he was going to sacrifice his future for her. _To be with her_.

"Levi."

She could feel him smiling in her hair, "Yeah?"

"I have an idea…"

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"Call me as soon as you land," Dad told me a third time.

I smiled and nodded, hugging him. "I'll miss you, Dad. Please be good."

"I will. Don't worry, Wren will be here and time will fly, it's only for eighteen months," he smiled back.

They had a fatherly slumber party last night, her and Wren roasting marshmallow over their fireplace while their Dad started a marathon of the _Simon Snow_ movies. They shared a lot of tears and exchanges of "try not to do this in Australia" which made them all laugh (sometimes).

Wren was in tears again when Cath turned to her for a goodbye hug. "God, can you not?"

"I can't help it, you're my twin," Wren replied, bunching Cath's sweater by her shoulders.

"We'll email. Everyday."

This time, Wren nodded and kissed her on the cheek.

The idea was for both Cath and Levi to finish college and for Levi to continue his post-graduate studies in Australia. Cath also enrolled in a post-graduate program. She thought a Master in English and Philosophy might be interesting in between her anxiety attacks.

"Okay, Cath, try not to freak people out with your weirdness the minute you meet them over there, alright?" laughed Reagan, giving her a sharp hug.

Cath laughed then whispered, "Look out for Wren once in a while." Reagan mouthed a _yes_ and rolled her eyes.

She turned to the grinning boy in blue and grey flannel shirt and held her hand out for his, "Shall we?"

He captured her hand with his, looking at her with the smilingest smile he can muster, saying, "Let's begin this adventure, sweetheart."

They turned to wave at them once more and headed for the Departure Gate.

Cath was very nervous. She is going to be subjected to even newer things when they land in Australia. Everything will be different.

But she looked into Levi's eyes and she knew they are about to have the time of their lives. Together.

_An adventure together_, she thought. She smiled at him and he grinned back at her. Her nervousness was washed away by her boy's smile and the thought of a great eighteen months ahead.

_~end~_

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Thanks for reading guys! Leaving a comment is always a plus for me so I know where I can improve - I'm sure Cath would say something similar for her S/B fanfictions. :) And let me know if you would like me to write a prequel for this - thinking of exploring Drunk!Cath. Thanks!


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